The Private Sector Commission (PSC) on Tuesday met with Commissioner of Information, Charles Ramson.
The meeting was held at the request of the PSC.
A release from the Office of the Commissioner of Information said that during the meeting, Ramson sought to respond to several enquiries which were a cause of concern to the PSC membership.
The release said that he was able to establish that the Access to Information Act 2011 “created a statutory partnership with
the various Organs of the State and its agencies, conferring upon members of the public, including NGOs such as the PSC, the right of access to information generated after 2nd July, 2013 when the Act became operational.”
The release added that his Office was made the “Clearing House” for access to information where Public Authorities did not meet with the minimum of their obligations imposed on them to provide adequate responses to requests for information.
The release said that Ramson undertook to participate in outreach engagements to sensitise the public about their rights and operations of his Office.
On February 10, 2014 in answer to a question in Parliament, Prime Minister Samuel Hinds disclosed that there have been no applications received yet for information.
Hinds also said that there has been no publication in the Official Gazette and in a daily newspaper of information on public authorities, documents in their possession for inspection and the procedures to be followed when a request for access to a document is made, among other things. In a written response to questions by AFC parliamentarian Cathy Hughes in the National Assembly, the Prime Minister said that apart from the commissioner, two members of staff have been employed.
Asked the amounts paid in salary and allowances to the commissioner, Hinds gave the figure as $1,208,517 pm (taxable). Apart from his salary, Ramson also receives an allowance for cell phone calls, he noted.
The Freedom of Information Act was passed in September 2011 and has been criticized as flawed.
Thus far, no list of public authorities has been published as required under the law but a preliminary list has been submitted for approval for publication, Hinds wrote in response to Hughes’ question about whether the Commission of Information had published the information as stated under Clause 8 of the Act. He added that responses from several public authorities are being evaluated and, upon due appraisal, will be published in the Official Gazette and a daily newspaper at the earliest.
